Tile panel, fritware, Turkey, ca. 1660-1670

Glazed ceramic wall tiles have been produced in the Middle East for over a thousand years. One type has decoration painted on a white ground. The best were made in the small town of Iznik in north-west Turkey, beginning in the 1550s. By the 1660s, large panels with impressive designs were still being produced, but the colours were confined to shades of blue and green.

Panel of thirty two tiles of grey fritware covered with a clear glaze over a white slip and painted in two shades of blue. Decorated with a bowl with a spreading foot, and from the bottom border spring six wavy lines interlacing stems, bearing large flowers and leaves, all symmetrically arranged. At the top are two spandrels, which together with the bowl are decorated with arabesque ornaments. Round the whole is a border filled with an interlacing pattern of long serrated leaves, stems, carnations and other plants.